


Twenty questions while the dead walk

by Eyeseemore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Help, Master of Death Harry Potter, Twenty questions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyeseemore/pseuds/Eyeseemore
Summary: Harry saves Merle from the roof in Atlanta and escorts him to the quarry while they talk.A quick one-shot, just to test my English writing skills. English is not my first language; Dutch is. Found a beta, luckily!Have expanded this one-shot. Check my work for the full series! It's called; Where do twenty questions lead? Death may know!
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Harry Potter, Merle Dixon & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 21
Kudos: 72





	Twenty questions while the dead walk

**Author's Note:**

> I have taken some liberties with the universes and characters towards age, relations etc. Also, I’m keeping the profanities a bit canon to the Merle in the series, I would not use them myself. 
> 
> English is not my first language; Dutch is. I would appreciate a beta to get beter at writing in English. I have a feeling a lot of sentences are translated Dutch ones since I do think in Dutch and not English. So if anyone is interested, so I can annoy you with my work, tell me! If I make any mistakes; please help me out!  
> Enjoy the ride. I’m practicing with one-shots to up my game before I write a longer one. There is a chance that this will become part of a longer story.

The man standing at the rooftop wasn’t a young boy or teenager anymore. Far from that. Harry was no longer The-Boy-Who-Survived, no longer a husband, a brother or a friend. He wasn’t even the Master of Death. He was just Harry. Lord Harry James Potter-Black was just Hadrian Black. It was easier in this world nowadays to not be himself. Not that he liked himself most of the time, he really only liked Harry his whole life.

Harry looked around the city of Atlanta and listened to the charred sounds around him. He couldn’t make out any people that were alive. The dead had literally started walking, a few months back, as per usual, was his luck. As the Master of Death, Harry had known something was coming, he had felt it in his bones, his body, his complete being. He had felt it in his soul. He had warned his closest friends, the ones who were still with him after the war and the clean-up of the Death Eaters and the ones he now considered family.

“Mate?” He recognized Rons voice, but it didn’t register. “Harry!” the redhead called out again, a soft hand on his shoulder accompanying the calling of the name.  
“Yeah, sorry,” Harry turned around.  
“Why are we here?” he vaguely waved around the rooftops. Their leather cloaks inbedded with various charms, waved in the wind and Harry smiled at his magical lifelong friend.  
“Because I feel someone who is in desperate need, I just need to know where.” Harry hummed under his breath, to stay in touch with is gifts and Ron just shrugged.  
“Allright mate, let me know if I can help.”

Then he heared it. It was a soft whimper and Death was standing beside hem. Death was an energy, a lifeform without a form, but very visible to it’s ‘master’. Harry nodded in agreement and pointed at another roof, a few buildings ahead. They apparated, Ron with a louder pop, Harry with nothing more than a soft acknowledgment of air moving.

The man on the roof was chained to a pipe and trying to saw of his own hand. While Ron had his wand in hand and stood on the look-out, Harry didn’t even bother with his wand and waved softly to open the lock on the cuff. Being who he was, he had gotten quite strong. The burly man was talking to himself, apparantly and Harry, who was still invisible, threw his cloak at Ron.  
“Take it home, I will bring hem where he must be. I need to look as muggle as possible.”  
“Don’t you think Draco should look at that wound?”  
“No, this guy might register as a squib, but I don’t know how much they know. Make sure you raid all the shops Ron, we need extra wands.”  
“No worries mate,” Ron paused while he threw the cloak around him. “Hold your portkey ready and we’ll be there whenever.”  
They clapped hands, the disgruntled man in his armes still asleep and Ron left with his distinct ‘pop’. Harry looked at the older man and sighed. Luna would say that his saviour complex was at fault here, but he just could not help it.

Harry had apparated them to the designated point that he had seen in the mans head. Briefly, vague thoughts had shown him that ‘Merle’ had a brother and in these times family needed to be saved. People were more important than squabbles. He saw the car the man had standing by and had levitated him in it after a wave of his hand had it unlocked without problems. He took the passenger seat, warded the area and waited for the man to wake up.

§§§§§§

Merle woke up with a headache, a stiff one. Like he had drank too much and stayed out all night. His mind was fuzzy and his memories even more. He smelt the insides of the car he found a few nights ago, so he and Daryl could flee if necessary and when he looked at his right hand, it was still there. He remembered a roof, a sa wand that goddamn nigger and then a soft voice, foreign and different. Then, as his memories came rushing back like a bat at the head at the bar, he noticed the younger man sitting next to him, asleep. He recognized the dark headed stranger from the roof, but the rest was foggy.

“Goodmorning.”  
The man wasn’t asleep then, Merle pondered on the British accent a bit, but decided against running just yet. A man that helped him get of that stupid roof, away from the nigger, that was a plus in his head.  
“Mornin’ sunshine,” he paused, just to see a soft smile on the strangers face. A young man with haunted, green eyes, looking much older than necessary. “What ya doing here with ol’ Merle in a car?”  
“I’m Harry.”  
“Merle,” laughed Merle with his raspy voice and he was handed a canteen of water. “But ya did not answer my question.”  
“You need to be back at your family, I guess. I couldn’t leave you there, after I found you.” The mans voice was kind, yet his demeaner that of a trained soldier. Vigilant.  
“Thank you for saving ol’ Merle from them geeks. Do I owe you now, eh?”  
“No and you’re welcome,” Harry gave him some wrapped food and handed another canteen over that Merle recognised to be used for campingtrips. “I’ll help you get back and then I will return to my family as well.”  
“Allright then.” Merle didn’t know what to say, but turned the key in the ignition and drove away. A chance was a chance after all and Merle never said no to that.

“It’s still a few miles away, wanna play a game?” Merle asked the silent man next to him. He was a strange fellow, walking in this goddamn heat with a long leather jacket and apparently with a black button-up underneath it. The cargopants with leather boots where no stupid choice, he reconed.  
“Sure.”  
“Twenty questions?”  
“Alright then, mate.” Harry laughed softly and leaned back in the car seat. 

“One; why are you escorting a stranger to his brother? Unarmed at that!”  
“I’m not unarmed,” the guy smiled and rubbed his right wrist. He pulled the jacket back, to show a few knives on his belt. “And yes, I’m really good with them. My turn; why did you get cuffed to the roof?”  
“Ai, slinging the biggies first, eh!” Merle adjusted the visor so the sun would not get to his eyes as much. “Had a fight with a nigger, he didn’t like me and officier friendly cuffed me.”  
“A police officer cuffed you? During the bloody apocalypse?” The Brits accent became more clear as he cussed and Merle just nodded.  
“Aye”  
“Okay, well. Yes. Next one’s on you.”  
“Wher’ you from?” Merle took an exit and drove around to avoid being seen on the main road. The escape car had been on the other side of Atlanta, just to be safe.”  
“England, mostly lived in Scotland.” Harry opened a third canteen of water, that he somewhat miraculously pulled from the leather bag he had in his lap. “Were you drunk?”  
“High. Needed to blow of some goddamn steam. Geeks are walking dude, walking!” Somehow this man made him wanna talk and Merle just blaimed the sun, the drugs and the weird combination of it all. He took a deep breath. “Three. Who’s waiting for you?”  
“My best friends and their spouses. You?”  
“That’s your third question? And thats your answer?”  
“Yep,” the man rolled the ‘p’ and smiled again.  
Merle grunted and rolled his shoulders. “My brother, Daryl. How did you end up here in good ol’ America?”  
“Work and my family visited me for a holiday.”  
“Some holiday that turned out to be, then ha!”  
The Brit smiled and the twinkle in his eye was very visible. “My brother says it’s my family luck.”  
“Some luck that is, then sunshine.”

The quarry came in sight, and Harry sat upright, his left hand nonchalantly holding a knife. Merle never saw him pull it. “Save the rest of the questions for a later time, will you!”  
“Sure thing, mister Brit!” Merle figured he needed some extra food and sleep, after he kicked officer friendly a bit around. He pulled the car over on the side of the road and got out of it. The camps hustle and bustle stopped, as Merle hollered for Daryl, who slowly turned around from being held by the deputy and officer friendly.

§§§§§§

Harry had been amused by the rough looking guy and his seemingly soft appearance. He leaned on the car and watched the image of people moving before him after Merle hollered at his brother; “Darileena, are ye comin’ to say somethin’ to yer brother?”  
Harry shook his head and pushed himself off the car, so that he could walk out and apparate to their safehouse. He was called back by one of the policemen, as Merle had pointed out.  
“You!” the taller one of the two stood before him in a few strides. “Where are you going?”  
“Home.” Harry just shrugged his shoulders and reached in his leather coat for a leather cuff that had found somewhere and had admired it.  
“Merle!” the gruff man turned around, after having given his brother a somewhat awkward hug.  
“Yeah, sunshine?”  
“Here,” Harry walked towards him, “If you ever find yourself on a rooftop again, just touch that and think of me, okay?”  
“Will do, sunshine,” The man fastened the cuff on his left hand and smiled. “Don’t forget, you still owe me fifteen questions!”  
Harry smiled, clapped the bigger mans shoulder and waved at him. “See you on the other side, Merle!”

**Author's Note:**

> I have decided to post a full serie based on this one-shot, because the bunnies kept going! It's called: Where do twenty questions lead? Death may know! You can find it in my works!


End file.
